AUTHOR=Aru Jaan , Suzuki Mototaka , Rutiku Renate , Larkum Matthew E. , Bachmann Talis TITLE=Coupling the State and Contents of Consciousness JOURNAL=Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience VOLUME=13 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2019.00043 DOI=10.3389/fnsys.2019.00043 ISSN=1662-5137 ABSTRACT=

One fundamental feature of consciousness is that the contents of consciousness depend on the state of consciousness. Here, we propose an answer to why this is so: both the state and the contents of consciousness depend on the activity of cortical layer 5 pyramidal (L5p) neurons. These neurons affect both cortical and thalamic processing, hence coupling the cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical loops with each other. Functionally this coupling corresponds to the coupling between the state and the contents of consciousness. Together the cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical loops form a thalamo-cortical broadcasting system, where the L5p cells are the central elements. This perspective makes one quite specific prediction: cortical processing that does not include L5p neurons will be unconscious. More generally, the present perspective suggests that L5p neurons have a central role in the mechanisms underlying consciousness.